Joe Cardella, who produced an internationally recognized art publication for 25 years and was an integral part of Ventura’s arts community, died Tuesday night.

Friend, collaborator and end-of-life doula Dina Pielaet said the esophageal cancer that had been in remission since late last year had returned with a fury only weeks before.

Cardella was involved in art on a number of levels, but most prominently, he had published ARTLIFE 11 times a year starting in 1981. The publication, assembled in his midtown Ventura home, included collages, photographs, drawings and poetry from artists around the world. About one in five pieces came from Ventura County artists, according to a 1997 article in The Star, giving them international exposure.

Ventura artist MB Hanrahan’s work appeared in several issues of ARTLIFE, and she worked with Cardella in several other spaces. She remembers going to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and seeing the publication.

Cardella was a big thinker, she said, who never thought in terms of city or location but rather globally and collaboratively.

“People around the world got to see art from Ventura, and we in Ventura got to get a taste of what was going on in the world because of Joe,” Hanrahan said. “His true powers went beyond the magazine. He curated life and he curated events and he curated people to show them off the best.”

For 25 years, Joe Cardella produced ARTLIFE, a publication featuring the work of artists from ...more

For 25 years, Joe Cardella produced ARTLIFE, a publication featuring the work of artists from around the world.

STAR FILE PHOTO

Hanrahan and Art City Studios owner and sculptor Paul Lindhard recalled the time Cardella persuaded a group of area artists to enter the Houston Art Car Parade in the 1990s. The piece was “Metamorphosis,” largely designed by Hanrahan and executed by several artists. It was an expensive undertaking and failed to win any awards.

But the next day, the piece was featured on the front page of the New York Times’ Sunday edition.

“A million people saw that car, so that was worth it,” Lindhard said. “It’s just how ideas grow from little notions. Joe was like that.”

Lindhard credits him with helping make the arts happen in Ventura. It was Cardella who conceived the idea of creating a union for artists, to give them a bigger, united voice, Lindhard said.

Members of what became the San Buenaventura Artists’ Union went from complaining in coffee shops about how poor they were and how disrespected they felt by the community to showing up at City Hall on Monday nights and successfully getting more money and resources directed to the arts, Lindhard said.

“It’s been an inspiration for me,” he said.

Ventura artist Joe Cardella often promoted the use of "Art Saves Lives." He deeply believed it.

Ventura artist Joe Cardella often promoted the use of "Art Saves Lives." He deeply believed it.

ARLENE MARTINEZ/THE STAR

Cardella was also relentless in his support and encouragement of artists. When he said “we should do this, he kind of meant, you should do this,” Hanrahan said. “He would not stop until you did whatever he was suggesting.”

Michele Chapin, who owns Stoneworks Studios & Gallery off Ventura Avenue on the west side, met Cardella when she worked out of Art City. Cardella was the type of artist who made things happen, and what he did inspired others and affected everyone around them, she said.

“He’s a creative genius,” she said.

At Stoneworks, Chapin hosts monthly events as part of First Friday as well as other times throughout the year. She felt important when Cardella showed up, as he often did at arts events to show his support, and touched that he would bring back small gifts from his frequent visits to Greece.

“Anybody close to Joe had his own special relationship with him. It would have been impossible not to,” Chapin said.

Denise Sindelar, who now works for the Museum of Ventura County and is a longtime supporter of the arts, called Cardella’s contributions to the international arts community “immeasurable,” saying he “helped establish Ventura’s reputation as a thriving arts community.”

Sindelar said she will equally remember his strong opinions and desire to debate philosophical and political beliefs.

Joe Cardella, a Ventura artist who died this week, lived in this house.

Joe Cardella, a Ventura artist who died this week, lived in this house.

ARLENE MARTINEZ/THE STAR

Cardella was proud of ARTLIFE, which was sent to Yale University’s Art and Architecture Library and the Getty Trust in Santa Monica, among other places. To get into the magazine, an artist needed to submit 150 hand-signed copies of each piece of work. The goal was a magazine that strayed far from mass-produced art that was increasingly being done by computer, Cardella told The Star in 1997.

“It is what I plan on leaving behind,” Cardella said then.

Although ARTLIFE was popular elsewhere, it had a tiny subscription base in Ventura County, the article noted.

Originally from Connecticut, Cardella lived in New York City, Berkeley and San Francisco before moving to Santa Barbara in 1978. That’s where he met Lindhard. Both came to Ventura in the 1980s.

Until the end and now beyond, Cardella and his work will continue to be recognized. He and a cover of ARTLIFE are in a mural created by artist and longtime friend Michael O’Kelly. The mural is outside the San Buenaventura Mission and was put there to honor the first 150 years of Ventura as a city.

Cardella attended the May 6 unveiling of the mural.

O’Kelly had worked in Madrid, Paris and Mexico City before moving to Ventura, what felt like a small town. It was after meeting Cardella that he fully realized: “It doesn’t matter where you are; it’s who are you,” he said. “I loved him very much. He was a great man who was somewhat undervalued in this area.”

The final cover of ARTLIFE, produced by Joe Cardella for 25 years.

The final cover of ARTLIFE, produced by Joe Cardella for 25 years.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/MICHAEL O'KELLY

On Saturday, a new show, “Bad,” will debut at the Art City Gallery. Among the work that will be featured is the final edition of ARTLIFE and other of Cardella’s works. The show will take place from 6-10 p.m. at 197 Dubbers St. in Ventura.

Lindhard said he hopes to go out in such a way.

In December, Cardella learned that the chemotherapy and radiation used to battle cancer had done the trick, and he was in remission, Pielaet said. By February, he was having trouble swallowing but went ahead with a planned trip to Greece. Cardella messaged Pielaet while there and told her he couldn’t swallow. By the time he was back in Ventura just over a day later, he had begun to fade and soon learned the cancer was untreatable.

Doctors did what they could to prolong his life — Cardella wanted to get things in order in preparation for his passing. In his last month, he would talk about what was happening.

“It’s very complex, this dying thing,” he told Pielaet. “It’s very complex, and I’m trying to get my brain around it.”

Another day, he said he was done with this gig and ready for another one. It was extraordinary to watch, said Pielaet, who in her role as a doula stayed with him through his transition.

Joe Cardella's home may become an arts museum, his longtime friend said.

Joe Cardella's home may become an arts museum, his longtime friend said.

ARLENE MARTINEZ/THE STAR

Now and going forward, Cardella hopes to remain a positive force in the area art scene.

“His wish is that his home, which is already an art museum along with his ARTLIFE publication archives, remain intact as the ARTLIFE museum, and his legacy will be a nonprofit that continues to support art and artists in Ventura,” said Pielaet.

Among the pieces of art in his house is a towering pencil, larger than his house. On it is a favorite saying of his: “Art saves lives.”